Kick-Ass 2 asks the question: what do you get when you take a wry satire of superhero movies like Kick-Ass and remove all of the satire? Well, mostly you just get a weird shitty superhero movie that kind of feels like it might’ve been shitty on purpose. Congratulations?

Kick-Ass 2 is kitschy, over-the-top, and by turns mildly amusing, obnoxious, nice to look at, stupid, and possibly offensive, but mostly it’s just pointless. I don’t know if something can be “more” or “really” pointless, but if so, Kick-Ass 2 is really really a lot pointless. Like infinity plus one pointlessness. Now I know, “Pointless” is often an unfair charge to level against a movie, because if the movie’s entertaining, no one worries about what the “point” was. What’s the point of a strip club? You go to see a show and they give you a show. And that’s fine. But “pointless” has scarcely applied so perfectly as it does to Kick-Ass 2, a movie that does nothing so effectively as make you wonder why you’re watching it.

Now, you don’t wonder “why am I watching this?” when you’re engrossed in a story. You wonder it when you’re watching something set in a confusing, heightened unreality where it always feels like someone’s trying to make a statement, but no statement exists. Imagine if Jonathan Swift had penned a sequel to A Modest Proposal where you couldn’t tell if he was serious about cannibalism. That’s Kick-Ass 2, a weird, fake satire. LET THEM EAT BABIES. I THINK.

The sad thing is, a lot of talent went into making this movie. It has some of the prettiest cinematography and set design I’ve seen, a fantastic cast valiantly committed to the material, and even a decent sense of language and comedic timing. But none of that matters because the movie isn’t about anything. It’s like Bob Saget’s last stand-up special – a mildly funny throwaway joke followed by ten contradictory taglines. It feels like it’s just flailing around trying to find a reason for existing in the first place.

Whereas Kick-Ass felt wildly self-aware, Kick-Ass 2 feels like it’s trying really hard to disguise its complete lack of a unifying point of view by making everything over the top and deliberately provocative – shhh, let’s see if we can trick them with fake symbolism. Now it’s posing on a crucifix! Now it’s tearing up a picture of the pope! Now it’s drawing a portrait of Lindsay Lohan in bear poop! It spews just enough motor-mouthed, zeitgeisty, faux-relevant horseshit to get through a scene, and then moves onto something else entirely with no through-line.

One scene is about finding solace in make believe! Another scene is about being yourself! One scene is about how you don’t have to be strong to be a superhero! Another scene is about getting stronger to become a superhero! A couple scenes are about how high school girls are weird and slutty and shallow and mean! The movie is about… I don’t know, capes!

Jim Carrey plays the kind of taking-it-too-seriously character that Nic Cage played in the first movie. Only this time, he doesn’t represent anything. He just sort of shows up for a while, gives a couple hints at a backstory and then goes away. Hit Girl tries to fit in at high school. Kick-Ass joins a team of wannabe superheroes. The villain formerly known as Red Mist (Chris Mintz-Plasse) becomes The Motherf*cker in the funniest sequence of the movie. But then the rest of his story just goes to campy theater fairyland, where nothing really makes sense, but THE VOLUME IS REALLY LOUD! Lots of people die, but none represent any turning point or consequence. And the first movie was all about real consequences.

The first Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn, did a brilliant job creating a tongue-in-cheek world that mirrored the plot points of superhero movies, while heightening some of the inherent wrongness of it – the punitive, fascistic sense of morality; the weird, pedophilic sexuality. It followed the idea of the “dark, gritty, realistic” superhero movie to its logical conclusion. That it was so upfront about the inherent twistedness of the genre allowed you to enjoy the chop-socky and gleeful gore that much more. By deconstructing the superhero gesture, it allowed you to revel in its tropes. You can’t hope to understand or fully enjoy your perversions until you admit to them.

Kick-Ass 2, on the other hand, feels like it just copied superficial features of Kick-Ass with no real understanding of what it was about.

Violence!

Swearing!

High School Stuff!

Social Media!

All the women are hot and slutty!

Chris Mintz-Plasse is funny!

Aaron Johnson wears lots of layers of shirts!

The highlight is all of the actors, who I’d love to see in… uh… not this movie.

With no edge or critique or point of view, there’s no sense of rebellion, and you can’t enjoy any of the camp. It’s just kitch on top of kitch on top of nothing, with no purpose except fashion, like a Macy’s mannequin flipping you the bird.

At first I read some reviews where people were saying this was going to be a decent sequel but in the last few days it’s just been getting blasted. I’m going to see it just because I see everything indiscriminately but my expectations are completely in the gutter at this point.

For me, though, this is exactly was the first film is, too. I don’t see it as a satire or ‘deconstruction of the superhero genre’ as it was sold to me. I see it as a hyperviolent, pointless, glorification of fantasy vigilantism.

I think the best thing about Kick-Ass was Matthew Vaughn’s ability to pull a somewhat decent story out of all the crap that Mark Millar puts, unfiltered, onto the page of a comic book. I’m not surprised that the sequel isn’t as tightly constructed without him in the director’s chair. 2 seems like honestly much more of a truthful adaptation of the source material than the first Kick-Ass, and that’s not a good thing.

Millar has a way taking simple, clever ideas (Nemesis was simply “What if Batman was the Joker?”), starting them out and setting them up entertainingly, then just going that one extra step to make it all terribly depressing (and not in a good, artsy way, more of a Fuck. Dude. Why? way).

Its always scary when someone says something like that “Well if I had complete freedom you know I’d be raping” because it says that the only thing keeping them from horrific crimes is getting caught. Makes you wonder what they do that they aren’t so worried about getting caught doing.

I just finished reading Preacher all the way through again last week, and it managed to surprise me by just how terrific it is. A lot of people dislike Ennis, but you can take any one of his characters and there’s more depth and complexity that all of Millar’s combined (not that that’s saying much).

It blows my mind that HBO (or anyone for that matter) hasn’t created a Preacher series. It really crams in everything popular from Genre stuff into one big entertaining ball. And that pitch is tailor-made for coked out execs with ADD. Roguish, loveable Irishman! Who’s a vampire! Hot chick old flame! Silent, unstoppable killing machine badass! You can start designing The Saint of Killers tattoo-shirts now!

I’ve never liked Ennis. “Preacher” screams ealry 90s (it’s super derivative of Tarantino) only it’s trying so hard to be deliberately edgy that it’s kind of sad. It’s like Ennis is saying on every other page, “Doe this shock you? No? Well what about this?”

I agree with the general consensus that both Preacher and Hitman are better works, but what I like about the Boys is that the character of Hughie, despite his acquired abilities, provides an identifiable character. The audience watches through his eyes and sees the chaotic, insane, sometimes hilarious, but certainly thoroughly fucked-up world of superheroes.

The other members of the group show varying degrees of depth, but Butcher especially reveals some different sides to his nature throughout the series, and somehow remains a sympathetic character despite what he turns out to be.

It’s got a lot of flaws in terms of the villains, though, so there’d have to be some work done on that. But it sure would be fun to see someone go all out and try it.

I saw this last night, and enjoyed it. I’m not a professional critic, so I’m allowed to see movies without having to deconstruct then right down to the font used when they typed the screenplay.

I’d also had about 5 beers.

Take from that what you will. It made noises there were happenings. I like the characters and I liked seeing them on screen again, doing stuff and things, man. Sometimes I just need the spectacle synapse tickled. *TICKLE TICKLE TICKLE* That’s Kick Ass 2.

Trigger Warning – Nerd talk:

The movie rolls the major plot points of the Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass 2 comics together, cuts out some of the darker, more sadistic aspects from the comic (rape, beheadings, killing children, dismemberment, animal cruelty) and modifies some of the relationships to give us a movie version we don’t feel quite so icky about. Kick-Ass 2 the comic felt sorta icky.

I wish Vaughn had directed this one too, but we get what we get I’m sure it would have been snappier, and felt more tightly composed. The movie is definitely the superior product over the comic, which just seemed to veer too far into the pointless sadism without point lane, only to have the main perpetrator try to backpedal out of the shitstorm he’d created by the last few pages. Did not jive.

The movie hits the major plot points and doesn’t dwell on major motivations, it’s a step back, but into a puddle. Not a cow-pie as the D+ suggests.

as someone now 8 months sober, the beer makes all of the difference. I’d spent the last several years watching all of my favorite television with at least a few beers in me and once I stopped I suddenly found myself less interested in a good number of the shows I had been watching. and instead of watching all of the shows that aired the same night that they aired I found myself sometimes getting backed up a couple of weeks. and some of the shows I quit watching altogether.

I know they shot in Toronto (my home town), but isn’t it supposed to take place in NY? Because in that still above they didn’t even bother to change the signs behind the actors, one of which clearly says TORONTO. Also, Zanzibar (behind Jim Carrey) is a strip club. A shitty one at that.

I feel like this review was written months ago. You went in focused on the budget and didn’t judge the film based on what was on the screen. Just because a film isn’t Plato doesn’t mean that it can’t be smart.

I think the movie was competently directed, and weirdly it didn’t look as cheap as the trailers made it seem, but holy shit the writing is so much worse. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great scenes, and some really funny bits, but there’s way too much Millar dialogue in it. It’s like someone took a good script and then had a bunch of misogynist 15 year old boys scribble over it. It’s weird to use the word “restraint” when talking about Kick-Ass, but Vaughn and Goldman had the sense to look at Millar’s writing and go “ugh, grow up.”

And I agree about the constant shifts in tone and message. “Hit-Girl is an extremely damaged and deranged person! No wait, that’s good! Eh, just forget it.”

Overall, though, I enjoyed it because Hit-Girl killing the shit out of people never gets old, and it did make me laugh quite a bit. Just a lot of wasted potential.

Just saw it. I had read beforehand that the ‘Kick-Ass 2′ comic had a rape scene and there’s a nod to that in the movie… that’s played for laughs. Pretty disgusting. It was all like ‘haha he can’t get it up’ and people in the theater actually laughed and I was just sitting there horrified

This review does nothing for me. You couldn’t understand the plot?! Maybe you don’t know how revenge works. Kick-Ass kills Red Mist’s Dad, Red Mist wants revenge. Red Mist is left with a shit ton of money and evolved his character into The Motherfucker with the sole purpose of avenging his father’s death. Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl are trying to figure out who they are and their purpose in life. They fight crime because it makes them feel good doing good. Motherfucker learns of Kick-Ass’ superhero brotherhood and decides to create his own full of villains. Some of the struggles of growing up in high school and the drama it’s filled with are some of the best parts. Some of that made you feel bad for them and how others didn’t want them to be who they figured out who they were. Motherfucker learns Colonel Stars&Stripes worked for his dad and tracks him down and kills him. If you felt nothing for that scene, you are doing it wrong! I wanted Justice Forever to avenge him, but it got more real as Motherfucker got closer and closer to Kick-Ass. I loved the boss battle at the end and the wittiness of Hit-Girl. I could have done without the S.I.C. stick, but loved her getting revenge on those bitches! I loved this movie and all its gore, crudeness, offensiveness, and the humor. I loved the first one, but Kick-Ass 2 went for a lot more than Kick-Ass could offer since it was new. I understand some won’t like this, but to not understand that the plot/purpose is revenge and consequences for actions, is pretty absurd. Maybe you need to watch it again. There was also a lot father it could have gone, with the comic being as gruesome as it is, but I feel it didn’t cross any lines and stayed as true as possible.

Oh, I understood the plot, I just didn’t believe it. There was just too much weird stuff with no explanation that didn’t seem like it had a point, like the way all the high school girls look like porn stars.

I hope I don’t go into my watching this with an automatically negative attitude. truth be told all of my reasons for wanting to see the sequel include just hot chicks and action and now you have me questioning whether or not those are good enough reasons to watch something. I watch far fewer movies now that I don’t drink (down from watching virtually anything, often times worse than syfy originals. an example being that latest brad pitt movie where he was a killer or something, wtf was that?) anyway I was actualy looking forward to this one. much the same way I would have probably enjoyed pain and gain had it not been based on and making light of true events. oh well…

It seemed like an odd choice for a sequel to begin with. Sure the first one teased a sequel, but it worked better as a one off joke than a storyline: hey McLovin’s a villain, that’s funny. Not so much when he has to, you know, be a villain.
And who wants Hit Girl to have pathos and a backstory? That makes everything about her life tragic and horrifying rather than cool and pulpy. Plus, I haven’t seen Carrey yet, but I cannot imagine he topped Nic Cage’s great performance (no sarcasm, he was great in KA).

I loved it, but then again I was almost murdered last year. Ha, I really just started a sentence with that, it’s almost pretentious. YOU don’t get it, non victim of a violent crime!

Anyway when you’re in the almost murdered club I think Kick Ass 2 makes more sense. Violence is weirdly exhilarating when you live to talk about it – after you look normal again that is. Healing sucks. So as opposed to glorifying violence I think it taps into a deeper life and death truth that is interesting and dare I say it, entertaining.

The only thing I could’ve done without is Mother Russia destroying all the cops, because despite being so over the top you couldn’t take it seriously it didn’t really add much so it was in fact ”senseless” violence and seemed to be pandering the kind of people who cheer when cops get killed. Who are also the people who tend to talk during movies, so f*ck those people.

OH, and I would’ve hated this movie if they killed Jim’s dog. So, my opinion is probably worthless, because one animal death and I’m out.

When Mother Russia destroyed the cops, it made Hit-Girl and her dad’s cop friend really start to think if they were doing the right thing. It also helped lead to consequences for putting on a suit. Mother Russia may have been the muscle behind The MFer, but he was indeed a villain that the directer perfectly made me the viewer want to see him get his. Sometimes in superhero movies, we fall a little for the villain. Not this time!

So I wouldn’t call all the violence ‘senseless’ because it really added to the story and how it would be shaped. I mean that scene made Justice Forever really start to question if they should continue on fighting crime because it just got a whole lot realer. Jim Carrey was amazing and when he met his fate, you felt something. This moment is when the movie grabbed you in.

When I saw this review and subsequent grade I felt “betrayed, bewildered”; I was really looking forward to this movie having loved the first one. Having now seen it and, despite enjoying it, I can appreciate your disappointment. It’s worth seeing but it’s a poor imitation or celebration of it’s gleefully dizzy predecessor.

Reading through the comments here there isn’t much love for the source material, I’ve not read it myself but I’m going to go ahead and blame it for the movie’s failings. I want to see Hit-Girl kicking ass not being stuck with some Heathers/Mean Girls subplot. What was the writer trying to achieve with that bollocks? Oh, and the use of Union J as some hormonally stimulating superpower for girls? What? I couldn’t whistle a One Direction tune to save my life but I recognize the Beatlemania levels of girly adoration they’re currently generating. Union J aren’t even on SETI’s radar.

There’s a good scene where Chris is summoned to see his incarcerated mob boss uncle, cartoonishly played by Ian Glen, and a point is made. I thought we were going to get a mob war with Kick-Ass and crew in the middle. Nope. That’s all we got of Iain Glen.

A misfire but what little we did get of Dave & Hit-Girl was enough to warrant the effort.